Builders live high (risk) life
House developers fined over health and safety breaches
TWO builders, perched precariously in the bucket of a digger, strain every muscle as they heave the final stone of a newly built house into place.
Neither has a helmet or any other obvious safety gear as they use brute force to shove the heavy stone, featuring the address of the property, into place, at least 20ft from the ground.
The reckless act was just one of a series of health and safety breaches which has landed the developer behind a new luxury estate with a hefty fine.
The photograph was released by the Health and Safety Executive to illustrate how Hoyle Developments’ new estate in Littleborough in Rochdale had repeatedly breached safety rules.
It was one of a number of health and safety failings found during construction work at The Villas development on Starring Road in Littleborough, said the HSE. The small, gated estate features a number of luxury properties on the market for up to £700,000.
Inspectors visited the housing development on July 7, 2021, and issued Hoyle Developments Limited, the site’s principal contractor, with a prohibition notice for inadequate scaffolding and improvement notices for a lack of welfare facilities and insecure fencing.
In all HSE inspectors visited the housing development four times between November 2018 and August 2021. The agency found ‘repeated breaches’ including a lack of sufficient welfare, unsuitable controls for work at height and inadequate protection from silica dust exposure.
Hoyle Developments Limited was served with ‘multiple’ warning notices, according to the HSE.
Hoyle Developments Limited, of Edenfield Road, Rochdale pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. The company was fined £120,000 and ordered to pay £3,165.15 in costs at Manchester and Salford Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday.